street roots
M a rch 16 2012
SAFETY NET from page 3
V
«
g ettin g back into h o u sin g ,” says M arc John,
JO IN ’S ex ecutive d irecto r.
F o r exam ple, Jo h n says, fed eral funds m ay
pay for r e n t for a couple of m o n th s to g et
so m e o n e into housing,
b u t it w on’t pay for a
d e p o sit o r for th e
application fee. T h a t’s
it
Vie hear from people who
w h e re local funds
c o n n e c t th e dots.
are trying to keep their
T h e n u m b e rs of
lights on and stay in their
p e o p le com ing to JO IN
homes. And three weeks out
looking for a ssista n c e
to h o u sin g is grow ing,
of the month, there aren't
Jo h n says. So is th e
resources available to them
n u m b e r of p eo p le w ho
tor rent or u tility assistance. have g o tte n into
So we make a referral to food housing, b u t b e c a u se of
pantry. And clients and food th e p ro lo n g ed econom ic
stag n atio n , a re now
pantries tell us that their
com ing back looking for
boxes are getting smaller
eviction p rev en tio n .
and smaller because they've
“W e’re definitely
c o n tin u in g to se e th e <-
been deluged by people
of folks actually
going there trying to stretch n on u m th b e e r s tre
e ts an d in
their dollars. People are
v ehicles and in th e
s h e lte rs grow ,” Jo h n
struggling to pay their bills
says. “T h e re c e ssio n
and put food on their tables
h a s d rag g ed on long
for the families. And the
en o u g h th a t a lo t of
safety net is doing
p eo p le w ho w e re ju s t
b arely m aking it m onth-
everything it can, but there
to-m onth, th e n w e n t to
just isn't enough in it."
a couch-surfing
— LIES L W E N D T
a rra n g e m e n t, have
CEO OF 21 1INFO
w o rn o u t th a t
o p p o rtu n ity an d really
have no place left b u t
th e s tr e e ts .”
T h e re a re alread y m o re th a n 1,700
h o m e le s s p e o p le sle ep in g o u td o o rs ev ery
night, a cco rd in g to th e city an d M u ltn o m ah
C o u n ty ’s 2011 one-n ig h t co u n t. T h a t’s o u t of
m o re th a n 4 ,6 0 0 c o u n te d as h o m e l e s s . __
Waiting lists for transitional housing in the
city average from sev eral w eek s to sev eral
m o n th s, w ith h u n d re d s of p eo p le w aiting to
g e t in to h o u sin g th is p a st w in ter. T h e
H o u sin g B u reau e stim a te s th a t an 8 p e rc e n t
b u d g e t c u t will m ean th o u sa n d s m o re p eo p le
will b e tu rn e d away from se rv ic e s, including
n early 500 from w in te r sh e lte r, and n early
1,400 w ho w o n ’t g e t h o u sin g re te n tio n
se rv ic e s o r a ssista n c e to se c u re Social
S e c u rity b en efits.
B u t w h a t is m o re difficult to quantify are
th e n u m b e rs of th o s e w ho h a v en ’t h it th e
b o tto m yet. T h e city e stim a te s th a t th e
n u m b e r of h o u se h o ld s w ho a re “d o u b led u p ”
to m ake e n d s m e e t is fo u r tim e s th e n u m b e rs
on th e s tre e ts o r s h e lte rs . In th e la st one-
n ig h t h o m e le ss co u n t, th e n u m b e r of
u n s h e lte re d fam ilies h ad in c re a se d by
35 p e rc e n t sin ce 2009.
iesl W endt is th e CEO of 211Info, a
c e n tra l call c e n te r fo r social se rv ic e s,
w hich rec eiv e s $ 2 4 0 ,0 0 0 for th e re fe rra l
se rv ice , th e H o u sin g C o n n e ctio n s w eb site
and for se v ere w e a th e r sh e lte r. L ast year, h e r
o rg an izatio n rec eiv e d n early 2 8 ,0 0 0 calls for
re fe rra ls re la te d to h o u sin g issu e s from
P o rtlan d re s id e n ts alone. T h e to p th r e e n e e d s
w e re e n e rg y a ssista n c e , r e n t a ssista n c e and
sh e lte r.
“I ’m w o rrie d b e c a u se I d o n ’t th in k p eo p le
realize how th in th e safety n e t h a s g o tte n
o v er th e p a s t co u p le of y e a rs,” W en d t says.
“W e’re h e a rin g from m o re an d m o re p eo p le
w ho d o n ’t know w h a t to ask for, w ho have n o t
a c c e sse d se rv ic e s b efo re, w ho d o n ’t
u n d e rs ta n d th e co m plexity of asking fo r a few
d o llars to k e e p th e ir lig h ts on. M o re p eo p le
a re tu m b lin g in to th e ch ao s of w h a t b ein g low-
in co m e is in o u r co m m u n ity ,” W en d t says.
“We h e a r from p e o p le w ho a re try in g to k e ep
th e ir lig h ts o n a n d sta y in th e ir h o m es. A nd
th r e e w e ek s o u t of th e m o n th , th e r e a re n ’t
re s o u rc e s available to th e m fo r r e n t o r utility
a ssista n c e . So w e m ak e a r e f e r r al to food
p an try . A nd c lien ts an d food p a n trie s tell u s
L
th a t th e ir b o x es a re g e ttin g sm a lle r an d
sm a lle r b e c a u se th e y ’ve b e e n d e lu g ed by
p e o p le going th e r e try in g to s tre tc h th e ir
dollars. P eo p le a re stru g g lin g to pay th e ir
bills and p u t food o n th e ir ta b le s fo r th e
fam ilies. A nd th e safety n e t is doing
e v ery th in g it can, b u t th e r e ju s t isn t e n o u g h
in it.”
ish says h e ’s h e ad in g in to th e b u d g e t
n e g o tiatio n s w ith th e p o sitio n th a t th e
F
$4.8 m illion is s e c u re d from th e o u tse t,
b efo re o th e r re q u e s ts . “W e’re still in a
re c e s s io n ,” F ish says. “A lot of p e o p le a re still
h u rtin g . We c a n n o t go b ack w ard o n o u r
c o m m itm e n t.”
“If you d o n ’t s p e n t th e m o n ey u p s tre a m
w ith s h o rt-te rm r e n t a ssista n c e , y o u ’ll have
m o re p e o p le o n th e s tre e ts , in th e e m e rg e n c y
ro o m s, an d w e ’ll e n d u p as a c o m m u n ity
sp e n d in g m o re d o w n stre a m ,” F ish says. “If
w e d o n ’t in v est in h o m eb u y e rs, w e ’ll have
m o re in fo rec lo su re. If w e d o n ’t in v est in
s h e lte r and e m e rg e n c y se rv ic e s, m o re p e o p le
will b e p u t a t risk o n th e s tre e ts , and th a t
lead s to a sp iral. T h e $ 4 .8 m illion is a m o d e s t
in v estm en t. If w e d o n ’t m ak e th a t in v e s tm e n t
w e ’re going to pay su b sta n tia lly m o re
d o w n stre a m .”
A n o th e r dynam ic in th e b u d g e t cycle th is
y e a r is th e fact th a t a t le a s t tw o m e m b e rs of
C ity C ouncil, A dam s an d R andy L eo n a rd —
w ho c o rn e r th e public safety b u d g e ts o n th e
council — will b e o u t of office a fte r th is year,
leaving th e co m p letio n of th e ir b u d g e ts to
n ew office h o ld ers.
T h is is th e firs t in w h a t will b e m any of
y e a rs b u d g e t d e clin e s fo r th e b u re a u as th e
tax in c re m e n t financing re v e n u e s from u rb an
ren ew al d istric ts d ro p to a fractio n of th e ir
v alue. T h is p ro m p ts th e q u e stio n of w h e re
n ew rev e n u e will co m e from . To th a t, F ish
su g g e ste d a la rg e r c o m m u n ity d iscu ssio n and
ev en a d ecisio n by v o ters.
“W e ’re g o in g to have, to find a way to deal
w ith th a t s tru c tu ra l p ro b lem ,” F is h says.
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